h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remember reading Masquerade as a child, and being utterly unable to make head or tail of the puzzle but entirely enchanted by the intricacy of the illustration nonetheless.

I'm not surprised he felt conned by that outcome though; maybe he should have put a curse on the necklace for anyone who found it without solving the puzzle.Not that I really believe in curses, but given that I _still_ wouldn't dig up a cursed treasure. Weird that. I think he'd planned it to be too deep for metal detectors; I guess it didn't quite work.

Hum. Oh yes, one other thing. Wasn't the Moon a woman and the Sun a man? The first sentence of the article seems to suggest otherwise, but I'm sure it was that way round, though it's been a while since I read the book.

The Prophet.

Great, great article. I remember the big fuss over this at the time, but I don't ever recall hearing how it was solved. It's fascinating to finally see how it was done.

I remember that book being given to me on my birthday by my uncle when I was, oh, thirteen or fourteen or something, and I learned several of the riddles by heart (to impress my freinds, who almost inevitably whipped The Hobbit's "egg" riddle back at me... ) and I still tell them every once in a while to this very day. Anyways, I always idly wondered where the treasure was, and now I know! (Not that it would have done me much financial good at the time, I was less than a year old when the hare was found... but that's one nagging question that has been rattling around in my mind solved!) Thanks, Bright Blue Shorts!

Proph - you are right. The Moon was female and the Sun male. Oh well I'm sure it'll be changed sometime.

If you check my original entry (before it got edited) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A511831, you'll find a link to a website run by a guy named Dan Amrich which is very good and very comprehensive about the whole story. Well worth a read.